


Make Something Better Than Me

by 221BroadwayIron



Series: My Brother, My Friend [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff and Angst, Foster Care, Gen, Harley Keener & Peter Parker are Siblings, Hurt/Comfort, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark at MIT, Kid Fic, Kid Harley Keener, Kid Peter Parker, Realistic Depictions of Foster Care, Student Tony Stark, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark is Good With Kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:33:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25816600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/221BroadwayIron/pseuds/221BroadwayIron
Summary: Rhodey laughed out loud. “Coming from the guy who’s been trying to keep your butt in line for almost two years, I pity the man who had to try to mentor Tony Stark.”“I don’t have a mentor,” Tony replied. “I am a mentor.”“You’re awhat?”----------Or, Tony finds himself in a mentorship program for Cambridge, MA foster children. His charges? Three-year-old twins, Harley and Peter.
Relationships: Ben Parker & May Parker (Spider-Man) & Tony Stark, Harley Keener & Peter Parker, Harley Keener & Tony Stark, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: My Brother, My Friend [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1873138
Comments: 48
Kudos: 388
Collections: Irondad and his Iron kids





	Make Something Better Than Me

**Author's Note:**

> "What are the chances that the universe gives a second chance [to] someone as rare and as wonderful as you?"  
> \- Ranata Suzuki
> 
> This fic drew a little bit of inspiration from the [Tony and Peter's Super Awesome, Totally Cool Baby-Sitting Adventures](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1441444) series and a _lot_ of inspiration from two really adorable twin boys at the place I work.

“You WHAT now?” Rhodey snorted, rocking backwards against the bed in amusement.

Tony leveled a glare at him. “I told you we shouldn’t have gone to that party.”

“As I recall,” his roommate shot back mildly, “ _I_ was the one who told _you_ we shouldn’t go. Buuut when do you ever listen to me?”

Tony ignored him. “Apparently, due to my ‘very unique situation’—which means because I’m the son of freakin’ Howard Stark—they’ve decided it is ‘better for my moral constitution’ to go into some mentorship program instead of paying a fine for my ‘unfortunate and disturbing display of misconduct’.”

“Well, they’ve got that right at least,” laughed Rhodey. “I bet your dad could pay off the fine and then some without batting an eye. But coming from the guy who’s been trying to keep your sorry butt in line for almost two years, I pity the man who had to try to mentor Tony Stark.”

“I don’t have a mentor. I am a mentor.”

“You’re a _what_?” exclaimed Rhodey so loudly that someone from the dorm next door banged on their shared wall to make him shut up. “You’re a what?” he repeated in a lower voice.

“I don’t know—it’s some kind of Big Brother, Big Sister thingy that they’re doing with foster kids in Cambridge.”

“And they want you in it?”

“Well,” Tony replied, checking the sheet of paper again, “apparently it’s a ‘mutually beneficial arrangement’.”

Rhodey snorted again. “Good luck.” He pulled his physics binder closer and flipped open the cover. “Glad I’m not hanging out with some sassy little brat three times a week.”

Silently, Tony had to agree with him.

* * *

“Y’know, lady, kids aren’t really my… thing, so let’s just do this the easy way. What do I need to give you to make you say I’m coming regularly to whoever comes knocking? New car? New phone? Still got college debt? I can take care of—”

The staff worker cut Tony off mid sentence. “What you can do is give a couple hours of your time every week to help out a kiddo,” she said, with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

Tony sighed in resignation and gave an apologetic shrug. “It was worth a shot. You’d be surprised how often that works. Kids really _aren’t_ my thing, though.”

“And _you’d_ be surprised how many people say that and then turn out to be fantastic in My Friend, My Brother.” The lady stopped walking next to a closed door. “Before we go in, bear in mind that all of these kids have been through things. Some are in stable home situations, others aren’t, all of them have had way too many people leave them and let them down. From the time you meet your friend, you are committed to him. You cannot opt out. You are proving to him that there are people who care for him and will be there for him no matter what.”

Swallowing nervously, Tony nodded. Commitment had never been his forte.

“You’ll do great, Tony.” She pushed open the door and gestured him into a large, colorful room filled with kids and adults. A girl Tony’s age with a long, bleached ponytail walked up to them with a grin.

“Thanks! I’m Casey. Nice to meet you, Tony. Maria, I’ve got it from here.” With a wave, Maria left and Casey began leading Tony in a winding pattern through the room. “Hope you don’t mind, we’ve got you with the twins for now. We’ll find someone for the other one, though, so you won’t have both of them for very long. They’re over there—” She pointed at a table covered in toy trains on the other side of the room. “Harley and Peter, they turned three in… middle of August, I think. They’ve been in the system for almost two years. First foster was rough—new couple, didn’t really know what they were doing and couldn’t handle twins—but they’ve been with May and Ben Parker for, oh, little over a year, I think? And they’ve been doing really well there. We’re all hoping the Parkers will apply for adoption as soon as the twins are eligible. They’re really good for the boys. But, anyways, you probably want to meet them, don’t you?”

Nope, not ready. Not now or ever.

“Harley! Peter! C’mere, your friend’s here!” Casey called.

One of the boys dashed over to them, a huge grin on his face. “HI!” he yelled. The other one trailed behind, still clutching a train, as though he’d been accidentally caught in his brother’s wake.

Even if Casey hadn’t already told him, it was obvious the boys were brothers, even more so that they were twins. They were identical from their huge brown eyes and matching green and blue shirts all the way down to the tiny sandals each wore on the wrong feet.

“This one’s Harley.” She put her hand on the wavy head of the one who’d run up first. 

_Harley has the narrower face_ , Tony thought frantically to himself, hoping to be able to keep the boys straight. This was going to be hard; he’d never been good with names.

“And this little guy is Peter.” That was the second twin. His hair was curlier than his brother’s and stuck on his face he had— “The eye patch is just for a lazy eye. We put it on after nap, so you won’t have to worry about it. Just make sure it doesn’t come off.

“But,” she continued as there was some sort of mad scramble by the door, “that over there is Libby. She’s a runner and Lyssa does a really good job keeping an eye on her, but just in case, don’t let her out the door. She’ll likely throw a fit, it doesn’t matter, grab her and return her to Lyssa.”

The twin with the eye patch—Peter, right?—stretched his arms up to Casey.

“What have you got there, buddy?” she asked as she picked him up.

He held out the toy train. “‘Omas.”

“You got Thomas? Very cool. Look, Peter, Harley, this is Tony. He’s going to be your buddy, okay?”

“Hey.” Tony waved at the boys awkwardly. They stared up at him. “Nice to meet you.”

“Okay, well, I’ve got to go…” Casey tried to put Peter down, but he twined his legs around her waist. “Peter, I have to go now. Do you want to go to Tony?” Very quickly, Peter let her set him on the ground. Tony tried not to feel hurt. Why did it matter whether or not some three-year-old wanted him to hold him? Tony Stark didn’t _hold_ children. Why would he want to have some little germ-infested brat that close to him anyways?

“Harley, can you show Tony where the trains are?”

“Yeah!” The other twin grabbed his hand and started yanking on it.

“Wait, wait, what am I— I don’t know what I’m—”

Casey smiled at him, already heading to a different table. “You’ll do great, Tony. Just play with them.”

Play with… Tony couldn’t remember the last time he’d played _anything_ , unless you counted the beer pong at that ill-fated party. Somehow, he was pretty sure beer pong didn’t count. Not here.

“‘ _Mon_ ,” Harley insisted.

Tony acquiesced before the kid could pull his finger out of its socket. “Alright, alright, I’m coming. Cool your jets.”

The train table had two other kids and their mentors rolling trains across the tracks. One, a good-looking redhead, eyed him skeptically as he perched carefully on the too small chairs.

“Hey, I’m Tony. How are you doing?”

Her eyes drifted down to his outstretched hand. “Here, you can be green.” She plunked a scratched engine into his palm. “I’m Nat, this is MJ.” She nodded toward the curly-haired girl at her side. MJ blew one wild strand of hair out of her eyes and glared at Tony.

“Oh, um, hi.”

Nat shrugged. “She’s always like that.” It wasn’t hard to understand why, if that kid was hanging out with the redhead all the time. Miss No-Thank-You-I'm-Going-To-Purposefully-Ignore-Your-Handshake. Geez. You’d think people here would be nicer than that.

Harley ran his train up Tony’s leg and made it do a flip. “ _Play_ ,” he demanded. Peter watched from the other side of the table.

“Play, got’cha.” He rolled Nat’s green engine across the tracks. Thrilling. How was he going to do this for two hours? It was torture. He was never going to another party in his life.

Well, correction, he was never going to get _caught_ at another party in his life.

Bored out of his mind, Tony drove the train up the side of Peter’s, no, _Harley’s_ head (Peter had the eye patch, Peter had the eye patch) and across his hair. To his surprise the boy giggled.

“Do ‘gain!”

Tony did it again. Harley laughed harder. He did it again, and again. How was he _still_ being entertained by this? Tony poked the kid’s stomach in annoyance and he _squealed_.

“Me?”

“Hmm?” He glanced up to see that the other twin had advanced cautiously around the corner of the table and was watching his brother.

“Do me?”

“Gotta step closer, kiddo. Can’t reach that far,” Tony replied, stretching out his fingers and giving them a wiggle to demonstrate his point. Peter eyed them seriously before taking a single step closer. Behind him, Tony heard Nat laugh under her breath. “I guess I can work with that.” He scooted his chair over, careful not to fall off the tiny seat. (Seriously, these things were a safety hazard.)

For some reason, he enjoyed it just as much as his brother had. Okay then. Peter tired of it more quickly, though, and soon the twins had gone back to driving their trains across the tracks. The curly headed girl whose name Tony had already forgotten glared and scooched to the other end of the table, so that they weren’t in danger of hitting the long train she was busy connecting.

Tony slid his phone out of his pocket. A text from Rhodey lit up the screen.

_Hey, how’s it going, man? Anyone died yet?_

_Your faith astounds me_ , he typed back. _No, no one’s dead. Little bored, though. Behold the squirts:_ Tony snapped a picture of the two fully engaged in trying to ram each other’s engines off the tracks and sent it to him.

_Behold the calculus:_ Rhodey sent back, followed by a close up of his chicken scratch-covered engineering book.

Tony rolled his eyes. At least sitting here ranked higher than studying. Though, only marginally. Scratch that, maybe—

_BANG!_

His head jerked up from the phone screen as someone’s kid started wailing. Oh boy.

_Wait_ —

Nat was already on her feet and extracting Peter from the chair before Tony had even realized he was the one who was crying.

“You alright?” Nat asked, pulling his foot out from between the two bars of the backrest. “This is why we don’t stand on chairs, Pete. You have to sit on your bum, or else you’ll get hurt.” She carefully set the boy on his feet. “Do you need a hug?”

Peter nodded furiously, rubbing his uncovered eye. "Yeah."

“Okay, go hug Tony,” she replied matter of factly, now righting the chair.

“ _What?_ ”

Nat shot him such a fierce glare that Tony immediately tried to force his face into something comforting and hug-able.

“C’mere, Har— Peter,” he said. The kid stumbled forward and planted his face into Tony’s stomach. He ran an awkward hand over his back. Kids were so small. “Okay, um, you… you’re okay.” The damp feeling of tears soaking into his shirt was distinctly uncomfortable. He resisted the urge to pull back. Hopefully tears were the _only_ thing soaking into his shirt.

Little arms shot into the air, making grabbing hands at him. “ _Up_ ,” came a muffled voice.

“Oh, alright. Up it is.”

The kid wasn’t as heavy as Tony had been expecting. He was really light, actually—or maybe Tony was just used to lifting heavy pieces of machinery in the MIT labs. Peter settled on his lap, securely wedged under one arm, and seemed content to just watch the other kids playing. Feeling guilty for being on his phone, Tony found the green train he’d had earlier and began chasing Harley’s red one around the tracks with it, earning several more squeals of laughter.

Peter squirmed a little on his leg, toying with one of the wheels of the train car he still clutched in his fist. With his sleeve, he scrubbed at his face.

“Off.”

“What now?”

The kid turned and now Tony could see the eye patch dangling off one cheek.

“Oh, uh, that’s gotta stay on, kiddo.” He moved to try to fix it, but Peter blocked him, mumbling something. “Huh?”

Peter touched his face. “Eye-b’ow.” His little hand reached out to tap on Tony’s eyebrow. “Eye- _b’ow_.”

“Uh, yup, both got eyebrows. Real exciting. Can I fix your… thingy… now?” Tony asked him. Peter nodded once, and terrified he was about to accidentally jab the kid in the eye, Tony pressed the patch back on. The boy didn’t say thank you—just went back to Thomas—but then, what was he expecting? At least the thing was back where it was supposed to be.

“Ready to listen!” one of the staff members called.

“ _Ready to listen!_ ” rang out across the room in response.

“Friends! Families will be here soon, so we need to begin picking up. When your table is all clean, please come over to the carpet!” 

There was a frenzy of activity as several dozen children scrambled for bins and fallen toys and tried to sneak in a few more minutes of playing. Nat’s girl—something-with-a-J? CJ? No, MJ?—plunked a container onto the train tracks.

“Pick up,” she shot at the twins. They ignored her.

“Guys, it’s time to clean up,” tried Tony. The twin on his lap slipped off and put one train into the bin. Harley was now flying his engine through the air.

“Friends,” Nat said, “please clean up the trains.” To Tony’s great surprise, both boys complied. _How on_ earth _did she do that?_

When all the trains had been put away, MJ whisked the bin away on to its shelf. She and Nat hurried over to a carpeted section of the floor, with the twins trailing after them and Tony trailing after _them_.

Casey began talking with the children already sitting down, asking them lots of different questions (and telling them to keep their hands to themselves). Clearly, this was a well-worn routine and the kids were eager to tell her all about their days. Tony found something akin to a smile on his face as he watched Harley bouncing on his knees with his hand in the air. As soon as Casey called his name, he burst forth a torrent of very excited, but mostly unintelligible, banter.

It was much cuter when Tony wasn’t the one who had to sit there and try to figure out what the heck the kid was saying. 

Then with a jolt, he realized he should probably know where _both_ the twins were in this mess of kids and mentors, and Tony quickly cast his eye around for— whatever the other one’s name was. Eye patch, Peter, right.

Even as he thought that, though, Tony felt a bump against the back of his jacket. When he glanced back, he found Peter pressing closer against him. The boy’s nervous gaze was fixed on some of the older boys next to him, even though they weren’t paying attention to Peter at all.

“What’cha doing, kiddo?”

At that, Peter stood up and scrambled right on top of Tony’s crossed legs. _Well_. Not three minutes later, Harley, having apparently finished his spiel to Casey, plopped down as well. They squirmed away from each other a little whining, but pretty soon Tony had one twin sitting contentedly on each knee, their hair tickling his chin and backs pressing against him. 

Okay, this Tony thought he could handle.

Actually, nope, he couldn't even do this. _Both_ feet were asleep by the time everyone was standing and Tony could heave the boys off of himself in order to shake out the pins and needles. (Ouch, how did people _do_ that?)

In his pocket, his phone vibrated and he drew it out, expecting something sarcastic from Rhodey again. Instead, a picture of him with the twins snug on his lap blossomed across the screen. If he was honest, it was a _little_ bit cute.

_Oh and its Nat_

How the heck did she even get his phone number? Tony shot her a questioning look from across the room, but the redhead just smirked at him before turning back to her tousle-haired charge.

“Tony? Hey, Tony!” It was Casey, weaving between the kids to pull him off to the side. “Since it’s Monday,” she continued in a lower voice, “the twins usually get picked up early, like around 4-ish. Ben, who’s their foster dad, should be here any minute. May you’ll likely meet tomorrow or maybe the day after. But we just like to give new mentors a heads up—you’ll want to make a good impression on the parents. You know, smile, be friendly and enthusiastic. Really, just be yourself. After they’ve left, come find me, I still have some paperwork for you to fill out, okay?”

“Um, yeah. Do they—” Tony struggled to find the words. “—do they know about the, uh, why I’m here?”

“No, that’s considered confidential information,” Casey explained to him. “You may disclose it; we may not. I personally recommend building a relationship with the family first. These families know not to judge people on their worst mistakes, but they also want what’s best for the kiddos in their care and knowing that can cloud their judgement. If that’s all, I should go get a few things set up for tomorrow, so… Good luck!”

“Thanks.” _I’m going to need it_. A lot of it.

There were people—and Rhodey was one of them—who everybody automatically liked. Somehow they were friends with everyone, always knew what to say, inspired confidence, shone like they were the freaking sun. Tony was not one of those. Some people tried to suck up to him because of his family’s money, but they didn’t like _him_. There was a reason why he didn’t have many friends on campus. And now he had 10 minutes to plot how to make a man not only like him, but be willing to have him mentor his children. 

(What happened if he failed? If the twins’ foster parents took one look at him and decided they wanted Tony as far away as possible from the boys? Would he just be shunted around the program until _someone_ was desperate enough or lax enough to accept him? Would he be allowed to pay the fine then? Or would they send Tony to a different community service project or make him do time in jail? Could they jail him? Was his offense severe enough? Geez, Howard would _hate_ that publicity. Maybe he should ask to be put behind bars just to make his dad mad…) 

“That’s Ben,” Nat suddenly spoke up from directly behind his shoulder. Tony jerked to face her just in time to see her indicate with her chin the man who had just walked in the door and was now waving at the escapee child. (Lyssa? No, that was her mentor. Lizzy? It definitely started with an L… Why was he even thinking about this? _Focus, Tony_ …)

_Oh no_. 

“That guy?” Tony hissed.

“Yeah, the cop.”

Well, crap.

* * *

Ben greeted Tony with a smile and a handshake, while simultaneously saying hi to Peter who had eagerly wrapped himself around the man’s leg.

“Did’ja have a good day, Pete?” he asked, as he swung the boy up into his arms. Peter snuggled up against his foster dad. “It’s nice to meet you, Tony. Hope the boys weren’t too hard for you to keep up with.”

“No, they were good.” Tony shoved both hands behind his back so that the way he was anxiously fiddling with his fingers was out of view. It was good enough for him, even if it was never composed enough for dear ol’ Dad.

“So Ms. Casey said you go to MIT?”

“Yeah,” the teen replied, glad to be on more familiar ground. “Engineering mostly, and physics too. Y’know, like, math and science… stuff.”  
  


“You like kids, then?”

“I, uh—” _No._ “Yeah, I like kids. This is, um, for a class actually. Prof really believes in the importance of community service and, well, this is more fun than a soup kitchen or something.” He shrugged apologetically, cringing at his horrible explanation, and wished Ben would look away from him. (Why was he looking at Tony like that? Was he actually looking at him funny, or did it only seem like that because Tony knew he was being fishy?)

After what felt like half an hour, Ben grinned at him. “I’m glad you’re here, Tony. We really appreciate what people like you are doing for our kids, and I’m sure the twins already love you. Alright,” the man continued under his breath, “got one kid, need the other. Where are you? Harley! HARLEY!”

The boy was still on the carpet, playing some sort of leap frog and chase game with several of the other kids. He seemed not to hear Ben calling.

“Pete, hang out with Tony for a minute while I go catch that little hooligan.” 

Ben dumped the other twin into Tony’s arms and hurried across the room.Tony stumbled for a second under the sudden weight and then froze, both arms clutching Peter to himself. The heck? Was he holding a child? Oh, gosh, what if he _dropped_ him?

“Stop wiggling,” he hissed. Peter kept wiggling until he had settled himself comfortably on Tony’s hip. Huh. It was easier to hold him like that. “What are you—”

There was a feather light touch on his back, which Tony realized halfway through his sentence was Peter’s other hand. It trailed repetitively across his shoulder blade. Tony resisted the urge to shake it off, even though it made his skin crawl.

“Ha’ley?” the boy asked.

“Yeah, your— uh, Ben’s getting Peter— I mean, Harley.”

Peter pursed his lips at the slip up. “Pe-dah,” he said decisively, smacking one hand on his chest. “Ha’ley.” The kid pointed across the room to where Ben was picking his way around a group of girls spread across the floor in a swarm of brightly colored ponies. Harley was slung over the man’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes, giggling madly. “Bruh-der, my… my—my—my bruh-der.”

His brother got set in a collapsed heap at Tony’s feet while Ben slid the boys’ backpack on. “Petey-Pie, Mr. Hooligan, time to head out. Say bye-bye to Tony.” The man plucked Peter from Tony’s grasp. He writhed.

“No bye-bye!” Peter wailed, face screwing up and beginning to turn red. Harley glanced between the two, looking about two seconds from joining in. “NO bye-bye! NO!”

Tony panicked, rooted to the spot, but he caught Ben (and Casey from across the room) giving him encouraging looks.

“Okay, no bye-bye. I mean, it’s not bye-bye… buddy. I’m coming again. I’ll, uh… I think there’s something tomorrow, so… I’ll, um, see you tomorrow, okay? Sound good?”

Peter smeared the tears across his cheeks. “‘Morrow?” he asked. Both he and Harley stared at him with identical brown eyes opened wide.

“Yeah,” Tony responded weakly, “tomorrow.”

* * *

Rhodey was sprawled out across the floor of their room when Tony got back, surrounded by textbooks and watching a YouTube video on his cellphone. “You’re alive then?” he asked, rolling over as Tony closed the door behind him. “How were the squirts?”

“Squirt-like.” Tony collapsed onto his bed and started pulling his shoes off. “No, actually, it was alright. There’s two, twins, three-years-old, and they don’t hate me yet.”

“Did you meet their parents though?”

“Yes. It’s not like a date or something, you know. Their foster dad came to pick them up. I think he liked me? But he’s a police officer, so we’ll see how long that lasts.”

“You’re joking.”

“Not joking. Kinda wish I was,” Tony groaned. He stretched out to snag a physics book off the floor. “What was the homework from Myers?”

“Chapter 5.” Rhodey propped himself up on his elbows again to inspect Tony’s face as he half-heartedly flipped through pages. “You going back?”

“Stop looking at me like that, sour patch.” Rhodey was far too good at reading him; it should be illegal. “I can’t just _not_. ‘Sides, think the boys are looking forward to it.” Tony slipped his phone out of his pants pocket, and his fingers found again the picture Nat had taken of him with the boys on his lap. He looked undoubtedly domestic. Tony decided he could live with that, at least for now.

* * *

On Tuesday afternoon, Tony showed up before his mentees did.

“Hey, Tony!” Casey greeted him. “The twins should be here soon. May texted to say they were running late. Tuesday afternoons are preschoolers only, so we’ve got a little bit smaller group than yesterday, which makes it easier to do fun activities. We’re doing snow slime today!” She indicated a big plastic water table in the center of the room, which was full of some unidentifiable white stuff. A half a dozen kids and their respective mentors were already crowded around it. Most of the kids had their shirts off; the others were dressed in bright yellow smocks. Nat was busy trying to wrangle MJ’s wild hair into some kind of a bun, but she sent an almost-friendly wave in Tony’s direction. 

The door swung open to admit another parent and child, and the same girl as yesterday ( _Libby_ , that’s what her name was) made a break for it. Huh, he would’ve thought she was younger than preschool.

Casey must have caught his train of thought. “She’s actually three, at least physically. Mentally she’s more like one, maybe one and a half. Libby was in a pretty bad situation before, so she’s a really bright kid, just delayed developmentally. She’s made leaps and bounds of progress, though. And she knows the tune of just about any kid’s song ever created.”

Tony smiled, watching as Libby giggled when her mentor scooped her up and began tickling the girl. For whatever had happened in the past, she seemed happy now.

“And if I’m not mistaken, that’ll be the twins.” As if on cue, the door opened again. 

The woman who entered must have been May, because she had a boy gripping each hand, but she looked nothing like Tony had been expecting. Ben had seemed like a straight-laced, country guy. May’s appearance screamed city life. She had a sheet of brown hair that just met the belt in her high-waisted pants and golden hoop earrings—a style that wouldn’t have looked out of place on the MIT campus, but didn’t seem to fit with the whole foster-mother-and-wife-of-a-police-man thing.

“You must be Tony,” May said, drawing the twins in after her so that Casey could close the door. “Ben said he met you yesterday— Well, hi, Lib,” she interrupted herself as the girl escaped from Lyssa and reached up for May. May easily picked her up. “How are we doing today? Are you being good for Ms. Lyssa?”

Libby crowed in a pleased manner, touched May’s nose with a finger, and allowed herself to be handed back over.

“Anyway,” the twins’ foster mother continued as if nothing had happened. “It’s nice to meet you, Tony. I know the boys are excited to finally have their own mentor.”

They didn’t look excited, though. Harley and Peter each had an arm wrapped around one of May’s legs. Without the eye patch they were almost impossible to tell apart, but then one put his arms up for May to carry him, and Tony was _pretty_ sure that one was Peter. (Curlier hair, rounder face, yeah, Peter.)

“I gotta go to work, baby. I can’t pick you up. We just came from Speech,” May added quietly to Tony, “so if they seem a little off at first or don’t feel like talking, that’s probably why. We don’t really like Speech, do we?” She ruffled the boys’ hair.

And now Tony could see it. May acted like Ben, even if at first they hadn’t seemed alike at all. The hugs and the hair ruffles and even their friendliness toward Little Miss Escapee. It reminded him a little of his mother and a lot of Jarvis’ wife, Ms. Ana.

“Where do you work?” Tony asked politely.

“Oh, I’m a nurse,” responded May. “Which is why I really do need to go because I have to stop at home to change before my shift. How we’re _always_ running late, I really don’t know… But you don’t care about that. Ben’s going to come and pick you up, okay, Harls? Sound good, Petey? I’ll be home after dinner. You go have fun with Tony, okay? Looks like Ms. Casey has something super cool planned for you guys.” She hugged each twin as she spoke, kissing their cheeks, and passing them off to stand next to Tony. “It was lovely to meet you, Tony,” May continued as she pulled him into a hug too. “Thanks for what you’re doing for them, Ben and I really appreciate it. We’re looking forward to getting to know you. Have a great day, boys. I’ll see you later!”

She was out the door in a flurry of brown hair and waving hands, leaving both twins hovering awkwardly by Tony’s legs, and Tony trying to recover from the fact that a woman he just met had actually hugged him.

“She’s always like that,” Nat spoke up suddenly from too close behind him. (How did she _do_ that?) “Come on, Harley, Peter. We’re waiting for you guys.”

“Yeah, we have some kind of… slime thing…” added Tony as he urged them over to the table.

“Harley-boy, d’you want your shirt off, or do you want a smock?” Casey asked.

“Off.”

“Tony, can you give him a hand?”

“Uh, yeah.” He reached for the kid’s t-shirt only to have Harley back away so quickly he almost tripped. 

“No! Don’ touch!”

“It’s okay,” Tony said, immediately jerking his hands up in surrender. He tried to look as non-threatening as possible. “Can I, um, help you… take your shirt off? So it doesn’t get dirty?”

“Help,” Harley agreed, already struggling to get the hem of his shirt over his head. His elbow had gotten caught.

“Okay, I’m going to help.” Slowly, Tony reached out to ease the collar over Harley’s face. The boy wiggled the rest of the way out and ran over to take a place at the water table, leaving his shirt in Tony’s hands. He opened his mouth to ask what to do with it, but—

“Peter might need help too.”

Peter was standing to his side, just watching. “Need help, buddy?” No response. “Let’s set your water bottle down, okay?” Tony took it from the crook of his elbow to set it on the floor. Peter scowled and snatched it back up as soon as Tony had taken his shirt off as well. He didn't follow his brother until Tony said, “Let’s see what C— Ms. Casey has for us,” and ushered him over.

* * *

It soon became routine, heading over to the center three or four times a week to spend time with Peter and Harley. Slowly, Tony forgot his inhibitions about being around the kids—it was surprisingly refreshing to step away from the pressures of college and the pressures his parents put on him. All Harley and Peter needed from him was someone to have fun with. He could play trains and color pictures and push them on the swings.

They went on field trips with the other kids in the MFMB program—to the park, to several different children’s museums, to have a picnic, even to the beach one time when the weather was hot. Once, when May asked him if he could pick the twins up and watch them for a half hour until she got home, Tony took them to get ice cream (which turned out to be a royal mess, but their smiles had been worth it). Another time they walked around the MIT campus so Rhodey could meet the boys he’d heard so much about.

Harley and Peter loved Tony. They always had to show him whatever they were working on or tell him about the new toy they’d got. Peter asked for “Up” more often than not, and Tony had grown to enjoy the feeling of his small hands tracing over and over on his shoulder blade. Both twins liked sitting on his lap, and Tony could no longer keep track of how many times one or the other had tackled his legs in a bear hug.

May and Ben were wonderful, as well. Tony enjoyed watching all the love they showered on their foster sons, and was flattered every time they remembered something he’d mentioned. They were more invested in his college classes than Howard had ever been. Even his own mother didn’t know so many details about his everyday life, though Tony had a sneaking suspicion Mama Rhodes would have, if only she saw him more often than just holiday vacations.

It was pleasant, but Tony knew it couldn’t possibly last, which was why he was surprised by how thrown off he felt when Maria pulled him aside one day while he was helping Casey set up some of the table toys before the kids arrived.

“I just wanted to let you know,” she said in a low voice as Tony dumped out a bin of animals, “we have another mentor lined for one of the twins. He has to finish up some of the paperwork right now, but sometime next week he’ll be ready to take over for either Harley or Peter. You can decide, of course, which one you want to keep mentoring and which one you want to hand off to Justin.”

“Oh, uh, yeah. Cool.”

“Take some time to think about it,” added Maria. “I’ll need to know by the end of the week.”

Tony nodded. “O-of course. Do you— Would—” Why could he confront a room full of media vultures without batting an eye and yet now he was stumbling over his words like a middle schooler trying to ask a girl to the dance? Subconsciously, he straightened his shoulders and lifted his chin a fraction. “Is it an option for me to continue mentoring both of the twins? It... It seems odd to suddenly change things on them now.”

Maria stared at him intently, though Tony couldn’t tell if it was actually _him_ she was looking at or whether she was just lost in thought. “We do have a strict one-on-one policy, Tony—”

Oh. Well, it was worth a shot, right?

“—However, because of your situation something may be able to be arranged. Like you said, it would be confusing for the boys. If we are to move forward with anything, though, we have to have the parents approval. I recommend you think long and hard about what you want to do, Tony, and then talk it over with both Ben and May to get their input as well. From there, we can figure out what might need to be adjusted.”

“Okay, thanks. I-I’m just going to run to the bathroom before Harley and Peter come, I think.” And he didn’t flee to the bathroom, because Tony Stark didn’t _flee_. He did hurry, though, and locked himself into a stall with shaking fingers.

What was he doing? What was he _going_ to do?

It would be so much easier, only mentoring one twin. That’s what everybody else was doing. There were _reasons_ it was a one-on-one program.

On the other hand, dropping one of them, sending one off to a new person felt weird. How was he supposed to choose which one? Peter or Harley? Who did he want to make confused and hurt, maybe even no longer like him? Whose hugs and excitement and smile like the sun was Tony going to give up?

Wasn’t consistency supposed to be a part of My Brother, My Friend? Tony could remember Maria telling him that—All of these kids had people in their past give up on them or give them up, passed between homes, struggling with trust issues and separation anxiety. He was supposed to be proving that things weren’t always like that, not providing just another example. Geez, what if the twin he sent to Justin thought Tony didn’t want him or like him anymore?

He needed to talk to Rhodey, _he needed to talk to Rhodey_. He would know what to do. But Tony couldn’t because Harley and Peter would be here any second, and regardless of what he decided, Tony would have to talk with them. And with May. He couldn’t do it.

_I can’t do it, I can’t do it, I can’t_ do _it_.

What did he think he was doing? Why was he even getting so upset about this? _Stark men are made of iron_. Harley and Peter were just his punishment for getting caught. Tony had never even wanted to be here in the first place, and now… 

_I don’t want to be here. I can’t do this. I don’t want to do this_.

A loud banging echoed through the bathroom.

“Tony? You in there?” Nat yelled, voice muffled through the door. “Twins are here. You look like crap,” she added as he emerged.

“I know,” he grumbled, trying to push past her. Nat blocked his movement.

“Nope. Go back in there, wash your face, fix your hair.”

His hair? Instinctively, Tony ran a hand through it, which only made it stick up worse. “I don’t know what to do,” he admitted under his breath. Geez, he must really be out of it. Why did he just say that to _Nat_ of all people? Why did she keep _looking_ at him like that?

“No.” 

_No?_

“You know what to do,” Nat continued. “You just need to do it.”

Just do it. 

Okay.

* * *

When Tony greeted May and the boys a few minutes later, there was no indication of his crisis in the bathroom. May smiled warmly and Harley wrapped his entire body around Tony’s left leg, but the way Peter shied back against May’s side only served to solidify the decision he’d already made.

“Hey, Harls; hi, Peter. Nice to see you, May. Hey, there’s something I need to discuss with you and Ben. Maria said they think they’ve found someone for one of the boys.”

“Oh, okay. Yes, of course.” He couldn’t read May’s expression. Was that relief? “Why don’t you come over for dinner on Thursday? Then all three of us can talk, and I’m sure the boys would _love_ to show you around our place. If you’re there around 6:30, we can eat and then talk about this afterwards.”

“Sounds great. Have a good day at work!” He waved as she disappeared out the door.

One step closer.

* * *

Tony was _pretty_ sure he’d never been so nervous for anything in his entire life, not even when he’d gotten Howard’s car stuck in a muddy lake bed while drunk and spent the half hour ride home in the back of a police car, trying not to think about just _how_ furious his father was going to be. He’d gone to bed that night with his cheek still stinging.

He was jittery and distracted all of Thursday, to the point where he actually got asked to leave his Applied Nuclear Physics class, which was usually the class Tony found the most interesting. He didn’t meet the prof's disappointed gaze on his way out.

“Dude, you’re fine,” Rhodey told his roommate evenly. The closer it got to dinner time, the more restless Tony got. He was currently one step away from wearing a hole in their carpet from so much pacing. “May and Ben sound cool. They’ll understand. Besides, they want what’s best for Peter and Harley too. It’ll be fine, seriously, man. Calm down. And if you wear out the carpet, you’re the one payin’ the fine, Tones.”

With a nervous chuckle, Tony perched on the edge of his bed, swinging his legs over the side. 

“You need to go for a walk or something, man. Even I can't concentrate now.”

* * *

At exactly 6:30, a sleek silver car pulled up outside the Parker’s house. It was a neat little two-story place with a wooden fence and overflowing flowerbeds. Inside the open garage door, Tony could see a haphazardly parked double stroller as he mounted the front steps to ring the bell.

Ben opened the door with a warm greeting, followed by two young voices yelling, “Tony! Tony! TONY!” He was quickly tackled by two enthusiastic twins in jeans with matching worn out spots on their knees and sweatshirts. (Harley was in grey, Peter in red. _Don’t get them mixed up, Tony_.)

“Hi, Tony!” called May from out of sight. A minute later she appeared out of what must have been the kitchen because she was wiping her hands off on a towel. “I _promise_ I didn’t burn the lasagna, something dripped in the bottom of the oven and that’s why it smells like smoke in here.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Tony said, as she pulled him into a tight hug. “I’ve been living off mostly coffee and ramen and sometimes the dining halls, so homemade anything is great.” Even at the Stark house, there was a cook who made their elaborate meals for them. Never something as plebeian as lasagna. Rhodey’s mom, though, had a whole cookbook full of casseroles and soups and crock pot recipes. Somehow, those always tasted a hundred times better than anything their high-end chef could ever concoct.

“Well, I’m not much of a cook, so you may change your mind after you’ve eaten,” laughed May, snapping the towel in his direction. “But go—Pete and Harls can give you the ‘grand tour’. I know they’re dying to show you their bedroom, at least, and of course all their toys.”

“But watch your step,” Ben added as he hurried into the kitchen to shut off a ringing timer.

“Oh, the rolls! Thanks, honey! Parts of the house are still under construction,” May continued. “We weren’t really expecting kids when we bought it, certainly not two, so Ben’s been working on an addition in the back to give us a little more space. There’s tools and stuff all over the floor still; the boys know not to go back there, but they’ll probably want to show you. Honestly, they think the construction’s the coolest thing since Thomas the Tank Engine. Harley, Peter, dinner is in _ten minutes_ , okay?”

The twins nodded and each grabbed one of Tony’s hands, yanking him down the hall.

The house was small. The living room bled into the kitchen and the hall quickly dead ended in stairs and the beginning of the construction zone. Upstairs was just the boys’ bedroom, a bathroom, and what Tony assumed must have been Ben and May’s room. In total, the whole place could have easily fit at _least_ four times over into the mansion where Tony had grown up.

For all its oodles of rooms and many guests, though, the Stark mansion had always felt formal and empty. The Parker’s house boasted life in every corner from the discarded socks in the stairway to a soccer ball rolling down the hall. It reminded Tony of Rhodey’s parents’ house, and Tony wondered if he was doomed to live in a place like the one he grew up in or if he could opt for one a little more like these. He’d trade half his shares in his dad’s company and what was left of his soul for a house that didn’t _echo_.

“Look, look!”

Harley shoved open their bedroom door, while Peter followed behind, still holding Tony by the hand. He let go and ran over to bounce on the bed excitedly.

“Gotta buh-bed!”

“You’ve got a bunk bed?” Tony asked him, taking a seat on it himself. “That’s fun. Who gets the top?”

Neither twin answered. Thrilled at their captive audience, they dashed around the room pointing things out and bringing toys over to Tony to show him, all the while keeping up a mostly incomprehensible chatter, which Tony nodded along to. They had just settled down to play with astronaut action figures when May called them for dinner.

Tony’s nerves, which had almost disappeared while distracted with Harley and Peter, flooded back in as he descended the stairs behind the boys. _After dinner_ , he told himself. After dinner he would talk with May and Ben.

Dinner, though, went far too fast. All too soon forks were scraping up the last of the lasagna (which tasted fine, if a little crunchy in spots) and cups clattering against the counter as May cleared off the table. Ben easily caught up each boy to wipe their faces clean and set them in the living room to play. May sat across from Tony with a cup of coffee so strong the scent made Tony nauseous. Or maybe that was just nerves.

How did he start this conversation?

“I told Ben what you told me,” May said, breaking a silence that was just growing awkward, “and Maria told me a little about the other boy. Justin, right? But we haven’t heard much. What did you want to talk about?”

“I… uh…” Tony sat on his hands to keep his body from fidgeting. “You know that me mentoring Harley and Peter was just supposed to be a temporary thing, yeah? Well, I don’t want to— That is, I mean—”

Both Ben and May’s eyes were fixed on his face, more intimidating than a hundred cameras could ever be. He looked down in his lap to avoid their gaze. _Just_ do _it_ , came the echo of Nat’s voice. She sounded mildly annoyed at him.

Just say it, then this will all be over.

“Can I keep them?”

Oof, too blunt.

“I mean, I asked Ms. Maria about it and she said they’re willing to make an exception to the one-on-one policy, but it’s obviously up to you guys. There are, of course, a lot of benefits to a strictly one-on-one mentorship and the twins might not _want_ to share their… friend, so I understand if you’d rather not, but I just am… I enjoy mentoring both of them and I thought it might be confusing for whoever if one of the boys is suddenly with a new mentor—consistency, right?—but you guys all know more about this than I do, so— Sorry. I’m rambling. I’ll shut my mouth now.”

Slightly out of breath, Tony dared a glance up at Ben and May. They had a whole conversation with their eyes before both turning to face him. Behind him, one of the twins shrieked and a toy car skidded under the table, quickly followed by Harley sliding under to retrieve it.

“So, Tony, you want to keep mentoring both Peter and Harley, like you’ve been doing, instead of letting Justin mentor one of them?” Ben asked in clarification.

“Yes,” Tony gulped, snapping his jaw closed before he could start running his mouth again.

“You’re sure, honey?” spoke up May. “They can be a handful, though I suppose you probably already know that. I think—” She glanced over to make eye contact with her husband. “—as long as Ms. Maria agrees that having you mentoring both boys is working as well as a one-on-one situation, we are okay with it. Your point about how it would affect the twins to suddenly switch one of their mentors is something we’ve discussed too. You’re really good with the boys, Tony, and we know you care about them. That’s ultimately what’s most important in this.”

“Harley and Peter think you’re really cool. They talk about you all the time,” added Ben with a fond smile.

Tony didn’t expect that to make him feel quite as full as it did. “Really? I— Thanks. I’m glad you… y’know.”

If May and Ben could look at him like that, he must be doing something right.

* * *

After dinner, Tony helped Harley and Peter set up an elaborate race course for their Hot Wheels in the living room while May and Ben cleaned up the kitchen. The happiness from earlier slowly dissipated, replaced by an anxious gnawing in his gut as he carefully propped the edge of a book up with a can of beans to form a jump. Instead of making him feel warm and pleased, the memory May and Ben’s kind gaze only served to make him feel sick. He needed to tell them the truth about why he was at My Brother, My Friend—They deserved to know now, before any of them got even more committed to each other.

Would they still want him? It wasn’t just the party that had landed him here in the first place. Before that had been years of underage drinking and drugs and acting out, years upon countless years of disappointing his parents in every way. Certainly Ben and May would feel no different than they had.

With considerable effort, Tony forced his focus back to the present and both boys scampering around the room collecting material for their racetrack. It was impossible not to smile at the excitement on Peter’s face as he experimentally launched a car off the jump Tony had just finished. He’d tell May and Ben later—before he left, but not right now.

* * *

The opportunity came sooner than he’d anticipated. 

It wasn’t long after they’d begun running cars through their track that May came in and called to the twins that it was time to start getting ready for bed.

“Give Tony big hugs, and then we need to go get pajamas on, ‘kay?” she said.

The force of two three-year-olds slamming into his chest, knocked Tony from his crouched position straight onto his butt with a twin in each arm. They weaseled contentedly against his neck.

“See soon?” Peter asked, pulling back to look at him.

“Yup, I’ll see you soon, kiddo,” reassured Tony, rubbing him on the back. “Good night, sleep tight and all that.” The boys giggled.

“Don’ let beh-bugs BITE!” Harley enthusiastically added.

While May herded them up the stairs to get pajamas on and teeth brushed, Tony nervously approached Ben, wiping down the kitchen counter with a dish towel. The man twisted when he heard Tony’s footsteps on the linoleum.

“Um, Mr… Ben? I— I need to tell you something,” he began, locking his fidgeting fingers together behind his back.

“Sure, what is it, bud?” He turned the rest of the way around to lean against the edge of the counter top, towel still in hand.

“Well, I— I lied. I’m not in this— this program for a class. I actually got… I was, I was at a party. College party, y'know. Actually you probably don't. But the cops showed up and, well…” Tony ran a trembling hand through his hair. (He was shaking, he was actually _shaking_.) “Instead of paying a fine or something, they put me in the MBMF thing. And I should’ve told you guys right off, but I just wanted you to _like_ me and so I lied, but now I’m telling you because— I just felt like I should— And I understand if you don’t want me around the twins anymore, my record isn’t exactly—”

“Tony, I already knew about that.”

“What? But how did you— Maria said they wouldn’t tell, I—” 

Ben moved to his side and Tony was ashamed that he flinched back when the man went to put his arm around the teenager’s shoulders. Ben gave no indication that he noticed, but he did shift back a few inches and rested his hand in plain view on the counter top. Tony tried in vain to stop the redness he could feel creeping up his neck.

“Maria didn’t tell me,” explained Ben in a gentle voice, “none of them did. I was one of the officers who busted that party you went to, and it was my partner’s car you rode in. So your name sounded familiar when Maria mentioned it to me only a few days later, and I recognized you that first day when I picked up the boys. You didn’t recognize me, though—which wasn't surprising all things considered—and so when you told me you were there for a class, I didn’t bring it up. Seemed like it wouldn’t be good to start off our first official meeting that way. I was curious when you were going to tell the truth to May and I, but, Tony, you’ve already proved yourself to us. I hope you know that. We’ve seen you with Peter and Harley, and how they are with you. You’re a good kid, Tony. Just because you have done some less-than-desirable things, doesn’t mean they have to follow you around for the rest of your life. You’re not just those decisions; You have more chances than that.”

Eyes burning, Tony tried to thank him, but the words tangled in his lungs. “Does May know too?” was what he finally whispered.

“No. I couldn’t help knowing, but I thought you’d like to at least have a clean slate with one of us.” Carefully, Ben reached over to rub a hand over Tony’s shoulder. This time he didn’t flinch. “Are you going to tell her?” He sounded genuinely curious.

“Yeah, yeah,” Tony said, looking up to meet Ben’s eyes for the first time. He couldn’t tell what the expression in them was, but it made his heart warm. Fondness and… what? “It kinda feels good to get it off my chest, y’know?”

Ben smiled and nodded, eyes still shining.

Pride.

He was proud of him.

* * *

It didn’t take long for Tony to recount the story to May when she returned: the party, the police, his sentence, and the explanation he’d given them originally. Somehow, he even found himself mentioning the tense relationship he had with Howard and the stress of coming to MIT several years younger than all his peers. Relief coursed through Tony’s body as he spoke, light and clean. He was starting over.

May swept him into a tight hug as soon as he finished speaking. “Tony, honey,” she said into his hair, “thank you for telling us, you’re really brave. I’m so proud of you.” May pulled back to look him in the eyes. “And I can’t tell you how to live your life, but _never ever_ around the boys.”

“No, ma’am. I would never,” Tony hastened to reassure her. 

She smiled at him. “I know you wouldn’t,” May said, “I just had to… say it again. They’re my babies after all.”

“They’re lucky to have you, both of you.” Tony awkwardly toyed with the edge of his jeans pocket. Too many emotions, he was going to need to go do something science-y after all this. A glance at the clock told him it was almost 10:00. Or the chem homework for tomorrow. “I should probably go now, I guess. My roommate’ll be wondering where I am. Thank you for having me over… and, and everything. It was really nice.” Tony fumbled for his jacket folded on the arm of the couch, then patted his pockets. He felt like he was missing something.

Ben and May watched him spin in a circle. “You should go say goodnight to the boys before you go,” said May. “Only if you want to of course. They might be asleep already, so just be quiet when you open the door.”

“I—” He was about to reject the offer (Why would he want to go stare at sleeping children? That was weird, wasn't it?), but something made him pause. “Okay, y'know… I think I will.”

Tony knew how to be quiet and his feet barely made a noise as he climbed up the stairs and eased the twins’ bedroom door open. In the dim glow of a Saturn nightlight, he could see two figures curled up together in the bottom bunk. He took a few steps closer, unsure of what to do now. One figure rolled over and he froze.

“Tony?” called a sleepy, little voice.

The college student crept closer and perched on the edge of the mattress, hand stretching out of its own accord to stroke the boy’s wavy hair. Now he could see that it was Harley who had woken up. Peter was on his other side, curled around a teddy bear, breathing evenly.

“Hey, squirt,” he whispered.

“Goin’ home?” asked Harley, blinking up at his mentor.

Tony brushed the boy’s hair off his narrow forehead. “Yup, I’m going home now. But I’ll see you and Peter real soon, ‘kay?”

“Mmm-hmm.” Harley rolled onto his side and, through his jeans, Tony could feel Harley press his lips against the side of his knee. “Nigh-night, Tony.”

He just kissed him. Harley _kissed_ him.

Tony swallowed around the tight feeling growing in his throat and smiled down at the boy, still stroking his hair. Gently, he rested his other hand on Peter’s back, feeling it rise and fall with each breath. The My Brother, My Friend program was supposed to be about giving them another chance, but somehow it had given Tony the same thing. He didn’t have to be everything his parents expected of him, wasn’t affected by his growing reputation at MIT as a playboy and partier, he wasn’t even James’-roommate-who-doesn’t-want-to-go-home-over-break. All that the boys, and the Parkers, expected of him was to just be _Tony_.

“Good night, Harley. Good night, Peter,” he whispered softly and leaned over them to place a gentle kiss on each of the twins’ foreheads, before his nerves could stop him. 

Somehow Tony-who-was-a-disappointment-to-his-parents-and-society turned into Tony-who-kissed-children-good-night.

It felt right.

  
  


_El fin._

  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> 1\. How did Tony sound? I struggled some with his characterization because it's him pre anything we see in any of the Iron Mans or the Avengers. Does he still seem like Tony to you?
> 
> 2\. I stuck Nat into this as an afterthought because I needed another person for Tony to interact with, and her personality fit well. Did you like it? Should I add in more Avengers? I've got some ideas for who I could add and how, but input please!
> 
> 3\. Any suggestions for more adventures for Tony, Harley, and Peter? I have a few ideas for future works in this series, but I'd love any others as well!


End file.
